John Phillips

Pop Musician

Born: 30 August 1935

Died: 18 March 2001 (heart failure)

Birthplace: Parris Island, South Carolina

Best known as: Co-founder of The Mamas and The Papas

John Phillips was the co-founder and leader of the 1960s pop group The Mamas and The Papas. The quartet included Phillips, his wife Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot. John Phillips wrote and arranged most of the group's songs, including the hits "California Dreamin'" and "Monday Monday." (The Mamas and the Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.) Phillips also co-wrote the sentimental 1967 hit "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)," which was recorded by Scott McKenzie. That same year Phillips was a key organizer of the Monterey Pop festival, the famous three-day concert that included performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. In later years Phillips battled drug and alcohol problems, going through rehab in the 1980s and requiring a liver transplant in 1992. At his death he was working on a new album, Slow Starter.

Extra credit: Phillips also co-wrote the Beach Boys' 1988 pop hit "Kokomo"... He was married four times and fathered several famous offspring: Mackenzie Phillips, star of the 1970s sitcom One Day At a Time; Chynna Phillips of the '90s pop group Wilson Phillips; and model/singer Bijou Phillips... Mackenzie Phillips announced in 2009 that she had had an incestuous affair with her father, which began in 1979 when she was 19 years old... His wife Michelle Phillips was a cast member of TV's Knots Landing in the 1980s.